asked the Minister for the Public Service if he would favour the extension of the career break and job sharing schemes, which now apply to the Civil Service, to the public sector.

In view of the success of the schemes in the Civil Service, the Government are in favour of extending the career break and job-sharing schemes to the public sector. A commitment to this effect is given in the national plan Building on Reality. Consequently, I have asked my Cabinet colleagues to arrange for the introduction of both schemes in other areas of the public sector. Schemes of career breaks have already been introduced in the health and local authorities areas.

In welcoming the Minister's intention to do that, will he in general seek a major increase in this type of activity and will he encourage to a more urgent extent, greater mobility between the public and private sectors? Perhaps the Minister can also tell me how many extra people might be interested in this scheme. Is there any indication as to the amount of interest in the public sector as opposed to the Civil Service itself?

My Department are making every effort to encourage the concept of mobility between the public and private sectors and any help which Members of the House could give in identifying private sector firms who might be prepared to participate in an exchange of staff would be very welcome. It is not possible to gauge the level of interest in the public sector beyond representations which are made from individuals or through Members of the House to me. I suspect that interest in both of these schemes will be very high if one bases it on the interest shown in the Civil Service during the period of less than a year since it was first introduced there. I should like to think that it will be generally successful and that it will make an impact both on career development and employment opportunities for those who replace the persons who opted for a career break or for job sharing.